Particular embodiments generally relate to generating multiple versions of a publication.
For publications, such as textbooks, multiple versions may need to be generated. For example, different states may have different regulations that require a publisher to generate different versions of a textbook for each state. Multiple versions may include some content that is similar; however, certain portions of pages may be different. To generate the multiple versions, a first publication may be generated. The pages of the first publication are then duplicated and used to create the alternate versions of the publication. The duplication of a page of the first publication is generally performed after a page of the first publication is finalized. The changes for the other versions are then manually input by a user. For example, a group of page layout professionals customize each duplicate page for each respective version of the publication. Typically, the page layout professional would receive a text document or handwritten notes that indicate which changes are required to transform the page of the first publication into a page for the alternative version. The page layout professional then manually updates the page with new content. This process is very laborious and time-consuming. Also, it also introduces the possibility of human errors.
The use of handwritten notes to guide the versioning process is very laborious. Also, the number of page layout professionals needed to create alternative versions increases with the number of versions that are desired. In addition, duplicating each page of a publication many times makes it difficult to track global changes. Mistakes can be very costly, in terms of time and effort, if they are not discovered early in the versioning process. Also, if many professionals work on the various versions, each resulting version can have a different flavor of changes, i.e., not all of the versions of the publication are generated in the same way because each professional has his or her own style. The stylistic differences among professionals also can cause problems when the pages of the publication are updated in the future. For example, when an error is found, the error may exist only in a few of the versions, which makes finding, tracking, and then correcting the error more difficult.